The Republican National Committee (RNC) asked the Supreme Court on Monday for an emergency order that would prevent Pennsylvanians whose mail ballots are rejected for technical reasons from having a provisional ballot counted.
Last week, Pennsylvania’s top court ruled 4-3 that state law gives impacted mail voters an opportunity to still participate by showing up at their polling place in person on Election Day.
The RNC argues the ruling misreads state law, which states a “provisional ballot shall not be counted” if a voter’s mail ballot was “timely received.”
“When the legislature says that certain ballots can never be counted, a state court cannot blue-pencil that clear command into always. And here, the General Assembly could not have been clearer,” the RNC’s attorneys wrote in their application.
Some Pennsylvania counties do not provide voters an opportunity to fix their mail ballot if it is rejected for technical errors like an improper date or signature issues, and the state court’s ruling, if allowed to stand, would provide those voters with a second chance at having their vote counted.
More than 1.4 million mail ballots have been returned in the state so far, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Polling indicates the presidential race remains tight in Pennsylvania, and both candidates view the state as paramount to their chances of victory.
The case arose after two Pennsylvania voters’ mail ballots were rejected in this year’s primary for not being returned with a required inner, secrecy envelope. The voters sued and are backed by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
Justice Samuel Alito, who by default handles emergency appeals arising from Pennsylvania, ordered the other parties to respond to the RNC’s application by Wednesday.
The RNC has asked for a ruling by Friday in advance of next week’s election. Alternatively, the party asked that the challenged provisional ballots be segregated and tallied separately.
“Even if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision does not change the outcome of any election, the question of whether the provisional ballots can be added to the vote total would remain a concrete dispute this Court can review,” the application says.
The case is one of four election-related emergency motions at the Supreme Court currently pending.
Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has asked the court to remove him from the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan in two separate motions.
And earlier on Monday, the court docketed an emergency application from Virginia seeking to remove roughly 1,600 people who the state claims are noncitizens from the voter rolls.
